Used car deposit

[Spiderdom08]

Hey first time posting on here just looking for some advice.

Bought a Mini Cooper SD over the phone on auto trader, I live in Kent and the car is located near Norfolk. One of my customers who lives up there and has a bit of car knowledge kindly went to check the car over and said it looks good and pretty tidy. I paid the £100 deposit the dealer asked for to secure the car. 4 days later I was due to hitch a lift to collect the car (3 hour drive) and literally 20 mins before I left the dealer phoned to say they’ve discovered an electrical fault and they can’t work out what was wrong with it so are having to send it back to BMW to be looked at. Good job I wasn’t half way up the M11! I said to the dealer I guess that’s fair enough he didn’t want to let the car go if it didn’t seem right for which I am grateful for. The car was up for £6995 I paid £4000 via bank transfer the day before I was due to collect it and was paying the rest in cash.

It’s only been about two days and not heard anything and I’ve done a little research and feel electrical faults could be and endless disaster? My gut tells me I should pull out and seeing as there’s a fault with the car I was about to pick up and insured that morning before I left am I entitled to ask for the £100 deposit back? Would there be any issue getting the £4000 back?

I just find it strange because nearly a week ago the car was on the ramp getting prepped and the morning of collection this happens.

Many thanks,

Dom.

[ESD1711]

I would imagine there shouldnt be any issue in getting all of your money back at this stage.

I'd be inclined to speak to the dealer in question and ask what their stance is on it. I would imagine they wont have an issue in returning your money to you given the scenario.

[93DW]

Spiderdom08 said:

Hey first time posting on here just looking for some advice.

Bought a Mini Cooper SD over the phone on auto trader, I live in Kent and the car is located near Norfolk. One of my customers who lives up there and has a bit of car knowledge kindly went to check the car over and said it looks good and pretty tidy. I paid the £100 deposit the dealer asked for to secure the car. 4 days later I was due to hitch a lift to collect the car (3 hour drive) and literally 20 mins before I left the dealer phoned to say they’ve discovered an electrical fault and they can’t work out what was wrong with it so are having to send it back to BMW to be looked at. Good job I wasn’t half way up the M11! I said to the dealer I guess that’s fair enough he didn’t want to let the car go if it didn’t seem right for which I am grateful for. The car was up for £6995 I paid £4000 via bank transfer the day before I was due to collect it and was paying the rest in cash.

It’s only been about two days and not heard anything and I’ve done a little research and feel electrical faults could be and endless disaster? My gut tells me I should pull out and seeing as there’s a fault with the car I was about to pick up and insured that morning before I left am I entitled to ask for the £100 deposit back? Would there be any issue getting the £4000 back?

I just find it strange because nearly a week ago the car was on the ramp getting prepped and the morning of collection this happens.

Many thanks,

Dom.

It happens. My guess is the dealer knew you were coming so probably went out to start the car and move it and probably saw an engine/warning light on. I think the dealer has handled it correctly by holding it back until they know its fixed & by sending it staright to a Mini dealer rather than just prodding around themselves & I suspect the MINI dealer has other cars in as well as yours hence the delay. Theres plenty of dealers out there who would just clear the codes and let you pay the balance and take it then act all surprised when you ring up 10 mins down the road to say theres a warning light on.

In short; Dont panic....


Yet

[Spiderdom08]

Thanks for your replies, I was thinking that they could’ve quite easily sent me packing and deleted the codes or taken a bulb out of a warning light and all at. I totally agree they’ve handled it best they could as such. I really need a car for my commute to work. I work nights in London so there’s not really any choice of public transport so I really need to get some wheels ASAP. Hopefully it’s just a dodgy wire or something I’ve just heard so horror stories when it comes to electrical faults. Will see what they say this afternoon.

Cheers.

[93DW]

Spiderdom08 said:

Thanks for your replies, I was thinking that they could’ve quite easily sent me packing and deleted the codes or taken a bulb out of a warning light and all at. I totally agree they’ve handled it best they could as such. I really need a car for my commute to work. I work nights in London so there’s not really any choice of public transport so I really need to get some wheels ASAP. Hopefully it’s just a dodgy wire or something I’ve just heard so horror stories when it comes to electrical faults. Will see what they say this afternoon.

Cheers.

If you have a mechanical understanding of cars I'd push to ask whats actually wrong rather than just 'electrical fault' some dealers simplify stuff because 99% of our customers dont understand cars and if you said to some of them that a passenger door control module had failed they'd either look at you confused or think the problem is 100x worse than it is due to not really understanding

[Spiderdom08]

Spoke to the dealer this afternoon, there’s something wrong with the auto lights and will know more tomorrow so think I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and hold fire on a decision until tomorrow.